Month: May 2018

When we talk of greatness, the image captioned is what many see as greatness: bossing. May I submit to you that bossing and greatness are not related to each other at all

Bossing means exercising control. Greatness is not! I do have a reason for saying that which I will explain later

Legend has it that British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and his political rival William Gladstone had a date with the same woman on different nights. When asked her impression of the two men, she said, “When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England”. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, “I thought I was the cleverest woman in England”. Disraeli’s talent is echoed in what Jack Nicholson’s character famously said to Helen Hunt’s character in the movie, As Good as it Gets: “You make me want to be a better man.”

Everyone likes the feeling of looking superior, wielding our authority, looking intelligent and feeling good about ourselves. Our myopic view of greatness has reduced it to “me, myself & I” whilst excluding “others”. Once upon a time, William Booth, the founder of Salvation Army sent a telegram to his employees and the tradition was it was opened whilst the workers stood in a circular fashion to hear the latest instructions or directives from their leader. This time, it was quite strange because it had only one word written: OTHERS

To call yourself great; has to go beyond how you feel, boosting your morale and self worth to including others. We have many directives on how to be great: walk with your shoulders up high and don’t droop when walking- that is a power position, sit down and cross your legs- exudes confidence, give a firm handshake- that is boldness, when shaking hands, always pat the person on the back- a sign that I am the boss or influencer in this meeting… Some of these ‘experts’ on the topic of greatness go as far as to prescribe how you should dress- how you should knot your tie, the color of your shirt and length of its sleeve against the sleeve of your suit, the style of your pocket square on your suits’s breast-pocket, color of socks you should wear and what have you. Everyone is interested in being a powerbroker these days hence some people’s addiction to these rules and more

The interesting thing to this is after practicing all these rules, you still don’t feel great and have a sense of achievement and fulfilment. In my second paragraph, I said greatness is not bossing based on Jesus Christ’s statements, who to me models the greatest leadership lessons. Let us consider his thoughts on greatness

“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” ‭‭Mark‬ ‭10:42-45‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The background to this story was Jesus, a leader had a leadership team of twelve and now two of those perhaps told their mum to tell Jesus to elevate them to greatness by where they should sit. By the way, if a seating arrangement can bruise your ego that easily, take that anger on your sense of worth and how low of a self esteem you have NOT on the usher. I am a pastor and that is a sacred cow if you don’t live in my world. Ha! I hereby also don’t condone dishonor and irreverence. Samuel and Agnes raised me well to be cultured. Anyway back to the story, the ten were indignant of their fellow guys because they also wanted to be great. The ten were as guilty as the two hence Jesus’ advice which we just read

The twelve walked with the greatest leader yet they had their own concepts on what greatness was. The two members in his core group lit fire on a hot button topic which caused Jesus to address and redefine greatness. In his words, greatness is serving and be of a service to humanity and not the other way round

Greatness starts with us thinking of others and how we can be of service to them. Practically speaking, do you know the name of your security officer, your driver, your work colleagues you supervise? Do you acknowledge the cleaners in your office? What about the person who may not be as brilliant and sophisticated as you? Start from there, ask their names, be genuinely interested in their welfare and flip the tables on them this time and ask, “how can I be of help to you today?” Greatness is giving the advantage and not taking. It is making the person or people around you better by your contribution.

That, my friend, is the journey unto greatness. Together let us redefine greatness

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” ‭‭I John‬ ‭4:18‬

Well, we have looked at the subject of fear over the past couple of weeks, we are not only interested in knowing about it but how to deal with fear effectively; possibly live a fear free life

I want us to consider this Bible verse which talks about the remedy to fear. It talks about love. Yep! Love!

What is it? Let us look at what it is not: We are not talking about passionate romantic love that exists intimately between couples (eros), we are also not talking about the bond of love that exists among friends, groups which is almost brotherly (phileo) nor are we talking about the love that exists among family members (storgia). All these kinds of love are good and very important to keep relationships going. We are going a step further than that- the love that casts out fear is God’s unconditional love towards man which in the Greek is known as agape. How can you love unconditionally like God? First and foremost, it is not natural to love like that. No human being has that capacity or ability to express that kind of love. The next thing we should know about that love is it is a gift. If you don’t have it, you can’t give it. Can anybody have this gift? Yes! How? By accepting Jesus Christ’s gift of salvation- by believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth Jesus is Lord

What happens from there? You receive this kind of love which is an assurance that God loves you. It is quite an experience to explain till you have encountered it yourself. God wants a relationship with man to express his rich, unconditional love- God’s desire is we are rooted and grounded firmly in HIS LOVE for us. Then we can also be vessels of this love to humanity.

“…God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” ROMANS‬ ‭5:5‬ ‭AMP

When we are strengthened and established in the love of God, it drives away and casts out fear. When you wake up every morning and all you think about is how God loves you and because he loves you, he sees to it that you have a better welfare. Tell me, where is the time and when can you give in to fear?

“For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.” ‭‭JEREMIAH‬ ‭29:11‬ ‭AMP‬‬

If this is your thinking every morning, fear will dissipate out of your life like smoke. With that settled assurance and confidence of God’s love towards your life, it is easier to love people unconditionally like how God loves you. People who love like God are the most powerful people on earth- because they have dealt with fear

My prayer for you is may you be challenged to live a life of love by accepting Jesus as your lord and personal savior. That is the beginning of many victorious steps to trump out fear

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity…” ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭1:7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This scripture was written to Timothy, Paul’s protege in ministry. He was young and had the task of overseeing a network of churches established by Paul. I believe, Timothy was focusing on the magnitude of his assignment as the Bishop-elect and overseer. He started to size up the assignment with what he could be lacking- age; he was young, nationality; he wasn’t considered a real Jew because his father was a Gentile (non-Jew) yet his mum was. Israel identified your nationality by patrilineal lineage not matrilineal and a host of other things. Perhaps, he looked at his assignment and was cowering in fear. It took the pen of a mighty apostle to charge Timothy through this opus, “God has not given you the spirit of fear…”

Like Timothy, maybe you live in fear because you don’t see yourself to be cut out for the job, perhaps you are focusing too much on what you don’t have rather than what you have. Timothy had what it took despite his “loud weaknesses”. He knew the Bible- very adept at it because of his mother and grandmother. He had been mentored by Paul, one of the influential game changers of his day, he also had experience- wasn’t a novice yet he felt inadequate because of fear

May I encourage you reader, that you don’t have to live this way- always in fear. Like I promised, I want us to look at some few negative implications fear can impact on us:

Fear will stop you from exercising your fullest potential

There is a story in the Bible in Matthew 25:14-30 about a man who gave his three servants talents of 5, 2 and 1 respectively. A talent was a sum of money in those days. It could be gold weighing about 200 pounds (91 kg) or silver weighing 100 pounds (45 kg). The two servants multiplied their money by investing whilst the last servant with the one talent didn’t. On the day of reckoning, when the master saw them again for review, check the last servant’s response in verse 25:

“I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.”

Wow! Fear kept him from investing money in diverse financial portfolios for a handsome dividend. Although this was in the context of finances, this same story speaks why many haven’t maximized their fullest potential. Why haven’t you written that book? Why haven’t you taken that test? Is it because it will be your third time taking it after failing the previous two? Why have you skipped that interview for that job offer? Are you having flashbacks of the last one you “bombed”? Let me probe further by asking why is that huge sum of money sitting in your savings account accruing next to nothing interest whilst you can invest it? Are you afraid because of the “other side” of the investment stories?

Fear is torturous and will hinder your progress in maximizing yourself

2. Fear will make you see things in a negative light

Your perspective changes from positive to that of a negative one. You start having suspicions about everyone and everything. You will be experiencing borderline paranoia. One bad experience can make you label that thing bad for the rest of your life. One broken-hearted relationship can make you label relationships as bad in general, one bad business deal turning sour can make you label all businesses and businessmen as crooks. One bad experience with religion can make you term it as brainwashed and mind control freaks. When you see a person constantly talking about the negative out of every positive, he lives in fear and is afraid. Before the servant admitted he was afraid, look at his perspective of his master:

“Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate”

Fear made him see his master as a tormentor instead of a mentor. The master wasn’t wicked because the first two never talked about him that way or saw him in that light. I know you might have had challenges in your work this past month. Maybe, just maybe, could you change the perspective of how you see your boss or supervisor? That might be the only necessary adjustment needed to enjoy your place of work. The negative perception of your boss is grounded and rooted in fear. So before you cast the stone of aspersion at him or her, please ask yourself this question after reading this post, “what am I afraid of?”. I am not saying every challenge in your workplace has to do with perspective. Sometimes, you do have a toxic work environment and a boss who stifles potential, the best option might be to look for another job and exit gracefully with honor. Howbeit, living in fear breeds negativity. Fearful people have negative energy and vibes surrounding them

From the quote, living in fear cripples. You die before you really die! You can’t enjoy life. You are always at the mercy of your greatest fear. It is said there are 100 compiled list of phobias- from Acheivemephobia (fear of success) to Zoophobia (fear of animals).

Fear affects you physically- difficulty in breathing, pounding heart…

Fear affects you emotionally- fear of losing control and going crazy, anxiety attacks and panic

Fear affects you spiritually- it opens the doors to demons and demonic activities

If something as dreadful as fear affects you physically, emotionally and spiritually; the implication is an early grave.